Tracey, R-4, has initiated a lawsuit against the town seeking damages in excess of $15,000 as a result of damage to a concrete wall in front of Tracey’s office, DiAdamo and Tracey Bail Bonds, sustained when a police car drove “up, on or against” it while engaged in a motor vehicle pursuit on June 3, 2018.

The office is at 575 Main St.

The “damages in excess of $15,000” part actually was a clerical error, according to Tracey’s lawyer, Michael Dolan.

The actual cost of the damage is $2,446, said Tracey.

“That ridiculous,” Tracey said of any suggestion that the damage might be in excess of $15,000.

Why go and sue the town? Why not just have the town fix or pay for the damage?

“We put a claim into the town. They won’t pay me,” said Tracey, a onetime professional wrestler who once fought Hulk Hogan in the ring. “Maturo won’t pay me,” he said, referring to Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr.

“I think it’s very disingenuous for a guy who’s running for mayor, who’s complaining about how the town is portrayed in the press ... and who himself is a candidate for mayor, and he creates more bad press by suing the town — for $3,000,” Maturo said.

Asked why the town doesn’t just pay Tracey for the damage, Maturo responded, “As a councilman and as a candidate for mayor, he should know the procedure for filing a claim.

“The town has thousands of claims” each year, and the procedure for all of them is that people document the incident, including taking photographs, and report it. Then it gets assigned to a town attorney.

Then the town decides whether to pay the claim, have town workers fix it or pay a contractor to fix it, Maturo said.

None of that happened in Tracey’s case, he said.

“What cannot happen is that a private citizen goes out and hires his own contractor to fix it — and upgrades that wall” in the process, Maturo said.

That’s what Tracey did, he said.

“The town is not responsible for upgrading the damage,” Maturo said. “The town is responsible for replacing what was there. That’s why there’s a strict procedure that does not allow people to hire their own contractors.”

He called Tracey’s lawsuit “a frivolous claim.”

Tracey “brought that up at a Republican Town Committee meeting that I was at, and I stood up and explained the process,” Maturo said.

While it may be true that Tracey hired the same contractor the town might have hired — Maturo wasn’t sure — “he doesn’t get to hire his own contractor,” he said. “Only the town hires its own contractor, and pays them.”

Dolan acknowledged that Tracey rebuilt what was damaged, replacing it with a bigger, better wall.

But “Steve is only seeking the claim for the damage done by the town employee, by the police officer,” Dolan said. “Steve is only asking to be compensated for the work that was done replacing the wall that was taken down, not for the additional work.”

Dolan pointed out that Tracey “had been in touch with administration staff — and they told him to have the work done. Apparently, the political winds have shifted and they’ve taken a different attitude,” he said.

“It’s all political — and it’s stupid,” said Tracey. “That’s why the whole thing has to stop. That’s why when I become mayor, I won’t let this happen to people. You should have to sue the town to get your money back.”